The Hindu, 28 May 2011
The West Godavari District Review Committee (DRC) which met here on Friday appealed to the government to exclude aquaculture from levy of fee over conversion of agricultural lands for ‘non-agricultural activities'. Eluru MP Kavuri Sambasiva Rao moved a proposal to this effect and the House adopted it unanimously.
The State government is collecting 10 per cent of the registered land value from aqua farmers for conversion of agricultural fields in line with the Andhra Pradesh Agricultural Land (Conversion for Non- Agricultural Activities) Act 2006.
The MP highlighted the need to treat aquaculture as part of agricultural activities as mentioned in the Act and exempt fish and shrimp culture from levy of land conversion fee.
Vexed with the crisis in paddy cultivation leading to a glut in the market and price crash, the farmers were obviously getting attracted to aquaculture of late, he said while requesting the government to come to their rescue.
The West Godavari District Review Committee (DRC) which met here on Friday appealed to the government to exclude aquaculture from levy of fee over conversion of agricultural lands for ‘non-agricultural activities'. Eluru MP Kavuri Sambasiva Rao moved a proposal to this effect and the House adopted it unanimously.
The State government is collecting 10 per cent of the registered land value from aqua farmers for conversion of agricultural fields in line with the Andhra Pradesh Agricultural Land (Conversion for Non- Agricultural Activities) Act 2006.
The MP highlighted the need to treat aquaculture as part of agricultural activities as mentioned in the Act and exempt fish and shrimp culture from levy of land conversion fee.
Vexed with the crisis in paddy cultivation leading to a glut in the market and price crash, the farmers were obviously getting attracted to aquaculture of late, he said while requesting the government to come to their rescue.
Minister's assurance
Roads and Buildings Minister D. Prasada Rao said a committee with the Secretaries from Agriculture, Finance and Revenue departments as members to look into the demand for exemption of aquaculture from levy of the conversion fee and the government was likely to take a positive stand on the issue.
Busa Raju of the Delta Fish Farmers Association said levy of 10 per cent of the registered value as land conversion fee was a great burden on the aqua farmers in districts like West Godavari where the land cost was quite expensive. When the average land cost is Rs. 4-5 lakh per acre, the conversion fee worked out to be around Rs. 40,000-Rs. 50,000 and it would be around Rs. 4-5 lakh for a 10-acre pond, he added.
The term of aquaculture did not figure in the list of non-agricultural activities which attracted conversion fee in the Act.
Yet the aqua farmers were allegedly forced to pay the fee on the ground that it failed to come under the ambit of agriculture as defined by the Act, Mr. Raju explained.
Source: The Hindu
